The Point of No Return
by Randicore
Summary: The Courier goes East to unite the NCR with what remains of the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel, only someone won't stand for it. Courier VS Lone Wanderer. M for blood, gore, and some Romance.
1. Chapter 1

The Point of No Return.

By: Randicore

The lone wanderer sat there staring down the scope of his sniper rifle. He was seeing what the Enclave patrol was up to. Killing them was an option but he would like to see what happened first, after all, even Enclave are human.

The Enclave commander started to look around the desolate landscape as if searching for something. Looking at the Tesla armor coated unit the wanderer noticed the soldiers were skittish, incredibly so. He checked his pip-boy for transmissions; he had a brotherhood scribe hook it up to intercept Enclave Radio messages, and heard the officer speak.

"Alright, you are all here to do one simple task. Kill the Lone wanderer. The man is a menace and needs to be put down."

The officer turned back towards his troops,

"I selected you personally by your combat records, and don't ask to go back to your old squads as long as the wanderer lives, this is the squad you are now with."

_So that is how it's gonna be._

Jason breathed in deeply his sights slowing to a still. He exhaled and then fired. The .308 round covered the distance in about a second, the Officer taking the round in the side of his head causing it to explode in a red matter cloud.

The Enclave soldiers dove for cover, hiding and scanning for the sniper. This is when Jason worked best, The Chinese stealth armor bending the light around him, hiding him from all but the closest observer. He slinked closer to the small six man group placing his feet carefully so as to not disturb the soil.

As Jason Neared he drew his Trench Knife and picked an Enclave to kill. Deciding on the one carrying the Gatling laser he snuck around to the soldiers blind and undefended behind, getting close enough to hear the gentle hum of the armor's cooling unit. The wanderer took his Knife and with one quick motion plunged it into the back of the soldier's neck, grabbing the body and its gun before it clattered to the ground. He dispatched one more soldier before they found the body, the whole ordeal lasting under two minutes.

"Shit," One of the Enclave Muttered, staring at the first body and the expanding pool of blood beneath it., "We have a man down."

The soldier looked over the body checking the armor for the rupture that would point to a bullet entrance.

The wanderer choose that moment to de activate his stealth field and he tapped the Enclave on the shoulder grabbing his plasma rifle as he turned.

"You had best get out of here," was all the wanderer said, he had learned in his time in the wasteland that silence was often more threatening than words. And it proved true once again here, as he watched the soldier turn and run his comrades shooting questions his way over the radio.

_That will keep them shaken for a while_

And with that Jason turned to walk home.

This is the way he had lived for the past six years.

Meanwhile in the Mojave

Veronica was worried, not just the normal worries of food, chores, and how to sucker punch the next fiend she came across, but about the courier. It had started about six months ago when he had told them about a transmission for a "scientific theater" and had told them he planed to go. Boone had immediately rejected the thought of going alone as close as it was to the remains of Nipton, Lucy had told him to have fun and that Antler and her were not that interested and would stay and "Watch the odd clumsy people outside," and ED-E had beeped and flown to his side. The only people to ask why had been herself and Arcade, Arcade asking to come along and herself asking what would be playing, just to make sure that he wasn't going to do something stupid and this was only a cover story.

The Couriers reply was quick to both of them, Arcade could come and an old Science fiction theater movie about a place called Big MT was being shown. Veronica relented realizing that he was being truthful.

They didn't see him for a month.

Arcade had rushed back with ED-E and said how they had come across an odd piece of equipment that looked like a satellite that was projecting a picture of an eye on the old screen. The Courier had walked up to it to examine it and in a flash of blue Vanished.

When the Courier had come back he had seemed different, instead of a smug grin on his face like he usually wore he had a hollow look. Sunken in eyes and a grim slash formed by his lips. He hadn't said a word to any of them just walked into his room strait across from the elevator and closed the door with a slam. The next day when he came out his smile was back but it seemed gentler but the eyes never went back. When asked what had happened he had dismissed them with a wave of his hand and said he would say when he was ready.

So she snuck into his room.

He had gone to pick up some food from one of the many farmers who had surplus and had told them he would cook tonight.

She was shocked by what she found. The first thing that stood out to her was the new weapons crate in the room that had appeared since she last had been in there and her eyes had snapped to the blue power fist on top of it.

When she picked up the fist the set of armor sitting next to it, which she had considered another suit of combat armor he had taken to cannibalize for parts, had yelled at her, "Don't touch that you thief!" she had jumped and dropping the fist back to its original starting position, and taken a step back. Within moments Boone had flung open the door and had his old hunting rifle aimed at her. She slowly turned to show him it was her and it took him a minute before he slid the rifle back to its holster. By this time the others were there staring at her, Raul chuckling slightly at the scene while Lucy hummed something to herself and muttered something about antler teaching bad habits.

Boone scanned the room and asked a question quick and to the point, much like himself, "Who yelled about a 'thief'?"

"That would be me," the armor said in its odd metallic voice causing Arcade to jump startled and trying to hide it, "She was going to steal that saturnite fist next to me!"

"How are you talking?" was Raul's question seemingly fascinated by the armor. The look on his face Veronica had only seen once before when the courier had tossed him an old salvaged power helmet to tinker with in his spare time.

"Saturnite fist?" was veronicas question.

"yes it's a saturnite fist made at big MT by those useless Lobotamites," the armor told them.

"Wait big MT is a real place?" Veronica asked while Arcade muttered, "What was that about a lobotomy?"

The Armor has told them everything, when the Courier had put her together, helping him fix up the AI's, and getting his brain back.

When she got to the point of him getting his brain placed back into his body everyone but Lucy started to shoot questions, mostly about how that wasn't possible, and Causing suck a ruckus that everyone couldn't hear the gentle ding of the elevator opening behind them.

They finally stopped talking over each other one by one as they noticed the Courier, veronica looking away like a kid caught with one hand in the cookie jar. The Courier gave her a look that she had only seen him give some of the people in freeside, the very one that had caused a few muggers to run screaming from him.

She admitted he did look rather intimidating at the time with the Veteran ranger Combat armor. The only thing that she could focus on was the hat that he had always worn on his head, a suave gamblers hat that he had found on a corpse in a fridge.

"I said I would tell you when I'm ready but it seems that you were too curious," The courier asked in a quieter voice than she had never heard him use, "So go ahead ask your questions."

The only one that was said after a few moments of silence was spoken by Cass, "Did you really lose your brain?"

The Courier had sat down before continuing, "Yes, I lose my brain, heart, and spine. After a while I got my brain back." He took off his duster and the top of his combat armor and showed them the scars from the surgery. Veronica could see a bit of a blue glow coming from his spinal column.

"The spine and heart are bullet proof as when as parts of my skull," He said his right hand touching the dime sized scar above his left eye, "The spine makes me stronger and the things almost indestructible."

"I see why you didn't want to talk," Had been Cass's only response. They had all lost something, Boone his wife, Cass her Father and company, Raul everything he had known before the war, Veronica her family's acceptance, Gannon his old Enclave friends, Rex The King, The Courier His memory. It was the way of the wasteland. Everyone had something they didn't want to bring up.

A couple weeks later, The Courier had gone out again, this time they knew where he would be going. Zion a Caravan company had a job offer and the Courier was going to go. As usual he left with ED-E. The week later he Returned with some now equipment, and a gift for her. A power fist very ornately decorated with a few feathers in it. He told them all what had happened confident that he had saved the Native tribes by killing off the white legs; the only person to question him was Boone about the old Letagate that he had run into.

A few more weeks had passed and he got a transmission about a casino opening, none of them had heard of it and they wished him luck, the only thing he never seemed to have. He had set off light wearing some reinforced Leather armor and that old ragged hat of his, only a laser rifle for company.

Two weeks later they almost killed him.

The Courier never wore a helmet it was always that hat perched on his head. It had been like that for the year that they had known him.

So when the elevator opened and out stepped a man with his head in a security helmet and assassins armor on with a BAR strapped to his back, Boone had jumped him.

They hadn't seen him use any weapon but energy weapons. He had always used Either a Fully modified Laser Rifle of a Gauss rifle, never his fists of a gun.

Veronica was impressed with what he had learned.

As Boone slammed into him from the side The Courier had Rolled with the his popping back up and turning fists raised, that's when She had gotten there The Ornate power fist had swung at him only to be caught in an odd Bear trap weapon that looked like it had seen heavy use, the fist smashed the top of the bear trap off before the Courier had rolled away and flung off his helmet.

He didn't speak to them for three weeks. It wasn't because he didn't want to it was because he couldn't. He had opened his mouth to talk only to have a raspy cough come out with a bunch of a red smoke, he had clutched his throat and had stumbled into his room hacking up an off residue into one of the pre-war shirts he had. Arcade had tended to him for the whole three week period.

Once he could talk he had told them all to get into his room to show them something. It was what he had gotten from the casino, Four Gold bars sitting in a small stack on his desk. He had told them everything from the odd companions he had to the fight with father Elijah and Christine.

After that he had become darker more dangerous and less forgiving to his enemies. Veronica was used to him let a few Legion or fiends or raiders walk away with a few lessons learned, but not anymore, he was Slaughtering groups to the last man, making a point to kill everyone and everything that got in his was. It was horrifying to watch.

Then he changes farther, it started when he got a trans mission from a man called Ulysses about his past, and he started preparing, the first thing he did was buy a sniper rifle, a new one from the Gun Runners Arsenal, he took that rifle and started to use it to acquire new tech, armor guns everything he thought he would need, then he set off to the divide wearing his veteran NCR Ranger Combat armor.

ED-E had kept them informed of everything as it had happened, they sat in the Rec room they had listening and waiting, a few times they lost contact due to ED-E fainting a few times the robot with the Courier being damaged too much, and they heard it all, the most terrifying thing was the end. Not because Nukes were aimed at them, or the long battle with Ulysses but the last words the Courier had said.

"ED-E think you can hack this?"

ED-E played a log

"No I'm not Going to let you sacrifice yourself,"

ED-E had Beeped asking how he planned to stop the Nukes,

"I can't but I can change where they will hit, and the Legion had this coming."

There was a finality about it that they didn't understand, why would the Courier who had done nothing but good every chance he had, to the point where he saved Benny's sorry hide Launch a Nuke on an inhabited area.

_What has happened to you? _Veronica though as she heard The Courier run from the missile silos, and felt the blast Minutes later, watching the Mushroom cloud expand signaling the death of men, women, and children in that area as well as the death of any improperly prepared people that examine it.

_You're not the same person you were when I met you._

He had come back that night wearing Riot Gear with the Anti-Material Rifle slung on his back. He had traveled alone since then.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Well I hope you lie the first chapter. This is more to show what my Courier looks like and I will get to the lone wanderer as soon as I can this is a Courier and Lone wanderer fic so this is manly to show there attitudes. Please tell me if I screwed something up. And constructive criticism is welcome, I won't read it if it is just an insult . I'll get chapter two out soon.<strong>_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello ladies and Gentlemen the second chapter is up (Cheers!) and I am finally going to be able to focus on this story. I will update more often after this, please enjoy.**_

The Courier walked forward eyeing the Raider camp through the scope of his anti-Material Rifle. He reached up and toggles the sneak sight on his Riot Helmet the Raiders popping out in his vision, a red outline defining them.

"So what do you recommend," The Courier asked turning to look at Boone.

".50 caliber rounds from three hundred yards, all headshots"

"You always say that"

"It always works."

"Can't argue with you there" the Courier said before reaching into his pack to pull something out, "But that's more subtle that what I'm going for."

Out of the bag the Courier pulled Mercy, a 40mm grenade machine gun, and started loading it.

The raiders saw the courier in an odd light; he was walking towards them his weapon on his back with glowing red eyes like some kind of kid's nightmare. The Courier reached the gate and without muttering a word and unslung Mercy. The Raiders reacted fast drawing weapons and taking aim, a few even got shots off, shortly before being blown to pieces. The fight, if one would call it that, was over in seconds the raiders rendered to pulp, the only ones that survived the initial attack were picked off by Boone and Raul seconds after the dust settled. The Courier walked up to the leader of the Raiders, the only one spared, and smashed him to the ground with an armored hand, Lucy, Veronica, and Cass were walking in to examine the area.

The Courier stood over the Raiders leader, the man on his knees begging hard enough to make his Mohawk jiggle as he promised them everything from money to slaves to spare him. The Courier kneed him in the face knocking him onto the ground and placing his foot on the Raiders neck adding pressure slowly cutting of the leader's air.

"People like you are what's wrong with this world."

The Raider's air was completely cut off the man trying desperately to dislodge the Courier's foot, scratching at the armored leg of the Riot Gear. The courier took his foot off the man's throat long enough for him to take a few breaths before smashing it back down watching as the Raider began to understand what the Courier was doing. He did this a few times, each time chocking the poor man a little longer until Cass took notice.

Cass ran over and slammed into the Courier like a football player before grabbing Dinnerbell, a gift from him, and blowing the raiders head off ending the man's torment.

Cass gave him an odd look, "What has happened to you?" She said shock on her face; "You're not the same person I met back at the Mojave outpost, you've turned into some kind of monster."

Cass backed away a scared look on her face.

Veronica walked over to the courier

"She has a point you have changed since we all met you, and we all want to know what happened." As Veronica said this Boone and Raul were entering the camp from the positions they had used to snipe the Raiders from.

"Here's your rifle back boss," Raul said tossing a sniper rifle to the Courier the man catching it with one hand and slinging the Pitch black rifle on his back the silencer gentle tapping against the side of Mercy.

The Courier sat down and took off his helmet, his face almost white from the hundreds of hours he had spent in it revealing on his face a hard expression placed and three scares crossing the bridge of his nose, his left check to the same ear and, the most startling to those unused to seeing it, a white circle the size of a dime, the only remnant of when Benny shot him in the head.

"I learned," the Courier muttered. He rarely talked unlike when Cass and Boone first met him, when they had first talked he was an eager helper fixing the problems he had seen and doing everything that was asked of him, as long as it had good intentions.

About a month ago he had gone back to Doc Michel's for an annual checkup to see if he was having any adverse and lingering effects from his "Encounter" with Benny. They had gone through the usual physical when the Doc asked him to use the Vite-O-Matic again. The Courier had stepped up and pulled the lever on it as the machine spit out information, and showing how his Charisma and Luck had bottomed out. The luck wasn't a big dip, the Courier always seemed like a thirteen pitch black cats, but the doc had to do another checkup to see if there had been any frontal lobe damage.

Veronica stared at him wondering what she could do to get him out of the shell he had developed. She had seen it happen a ton of Paladins go through something like this the only survivor from a surprise attack in a bobby trapped building slinking away with a survivor's guilt, either getting over it, or placing their laser pistol in their mouth and ending it. But at this point Veronica had run out of ideas, she had don't everything she could think of from a night on the town to letting him fully relax without a distraction, and nothing worked. He started on the path that worried her, doing more and more dangerous jobs and fighting in more dangerous ways. After what she learned what he did for the thorn she was ready to kill him, taking on the Deathclaw nest without and backup the turning down Lucy's offer after getting Dinnerbell. Cass tried her approach and walked away without doing a thing to the Courier's shell, abet feeling better then she had for a long while if a bit sore.

ED-E floated over to the Courier and the edges of his mouth twisted up ever so slightly, the closest he got to a smile nowadays.

-In the Capital wasteland-

The Lone Wanderer walked out of his room in Megaton, carefully closing the door behind him so as not to wake Sarah, and started his daily routine. Making food for the two of them, telling Wadsworth his jobs for today, and cleaning his weapons and armor, along with Sarah's was the beginning, afterwards he would go around town and do a quick sweep of the area to make sure no Raiders or Enclave had set up shop outside the town, Dogmeat trotting happily by his side. Jason opened the door to his house as Sarah walked down the stairs giving him a warm smile and a kiss.

She was always getting up later than him, more accustom to the Brotherhood's schedule than his. They sat down eating the meal he had prepared earlier, a fresh meal of shredded wheat, one of the crops being sold from rivet city from the hydroponics department that had been set up. The Capital wasteland was on his way to recovery, Rivet City was almost a capital, Megaton becoming a trade hub and Canterbury Commons was rebuilding after the "help" from the Mechanist. As Jason and Sarah walked to the Citadel they passed a group of settlers from the small hovels scattered around the waste, being helped be Fawkes and Uncle Leo to start a new settlement Named Tin-town after the material they had made the roofs out of, hundreds of old rusty tin cans, the sight was a good one they had well kept weapons and plenty of ammo along with old clay pots (none in great shape) that various herbs and fruits were growing out of. The only problem was Leo trying to make a Buddhist temple for "others who want to seek balance." The sight of a Super Mutant trying to teach philosophy to people who barely knew how to add was a new one to the wastes.

The world had a brighter feel to it; people were less afraid, thanks to the Brotherhood's patrols and the decline of the Mutant population. Recruitment was up too, more people from the Wasteland wanted to become one of the stoic monolithic Brotherhood Paladins, so many that the Brotherhood had to expand its operations and they started fixing up another floor of the Citadel. Jason's friends had set up to help the people protect themselves; the Regulators had an Instructor in every town teaching the people how to fight correctly not just desperately. Jason smiled as he saw a Brotherhood Vertibird fly over head. He had caused this, he had come out of the Vault and breathed new life into the world, after two hundred years the Capitol was back, and this time, it was for good.


	3. Chapter 3

The Courier was silent; his eyes on his target, not a muscle moving accept his hand twitching slightly over his gun.

"Draw!" A man yelled

and in a blur the Courier drew and fired the Ranger Sequoya the straw head of the dummy exploding in to a few spindly strands. The Courier holstered his gun just as quickly as he drew it a muffled "Click" coming from the holster. The entire exchange took only half a second. The grin the Courier gave was one of smug determination.

"I must thank you adequately for the Training," The Courier said tossing the man a bag with two hundred caps in it, "This will come in handy."

As the Courier left Boone stood up from a chair by the door and yawned stretching, "Enjoy your nap?" the Courier asked putting back on his helmet. Boone grumbled at him and walked out of the door behind the Courier patting his pockets to make sure he still had everything. Outside Veronica was waiting for them the strolling easily in her T-45d power-armor causing a few heads to turn her way, from attraction or from fear was anyone's guess.

"Foods loaded," she said through the helmet before she caught sight of Boone Rubbing his eyes, "So NCR passed out again?"

Boone looked at her, he loathed the nickname she had given him and it was plain to everyone, so of course everyone who knew him used it, those who didn't know him usually said it once, just once, then never again those who didn't get the message or were just too stupid to understand anything said to them stopped talking, permanently.

"Then let's get going," The Courier said his voiced hushed and changed by the Riot helmet, "The sooner we get to Chicago the better."

After a quick goodbye to the town's gatekeeper they were in the covered wagon and on their way.

The Courier had told them that he would be going to Chicago with ED-E to try and make peace between the Enclave, Brotherhood of Steel, and the NCR. Veronica Arcade and Boone had thought it necessary for him to have someone to go with him, so of course everyone did, it had started with Veronica saying that someone should be there to speak for the Brotherhood and soon Gannon had said the same thing. Boone thought that they would get themselves killed without plenty of help and Cass reminded them that she had run a caravan and finally Raul had stated that he wanted to enjoy a little "Vacation" for him to relax. Rex had to come with as he needed someone to take care of them, and no one wanted Lily to have free access of the Lucky 38.

The whole group helped load a wagon that the Courier had found. It had been in an old museum in a section about "Manifest destiny" and he had fixed it up. It looked almost out of the pre-war pictures and books that had been part of the exhibit but for the two giant Robot scorpions he had reprogrammed to pull the wagon.

They were a few days out of the Mojave covering more distance in those few days than they could have made in a week on foot and they were beginning to pass through a plateau filled area.

"Hey!" Cass yelled slightly defining Boone who was sitting next to her, "Anyone else see that odd red cloud over there?" She was pointing to the top of one of the Structures a faint light illuminating the Cloud from the inside with two spot-lights sticking out through the clouds, a faint amount of music could be heard in the distance.

The Courier tensed up and immediately went to the back of the wagon opening a small weapons locker and taking out an old automatic rifle and a Broad machete.

"Don't follow me," was all the Courier said before hopping off the wagon and sprinting towards the cloud.

"I will never understand him," Cass muttered before tipping her hat down and closing her eyes, "Wake me when something interesting happens."

It didn't take long; the group came across a Deathclaw that had been stabbed in the eye a spearhead sticking out of the other side in a ragged hole deciding to investigate they left Lucy ED-E and Rex to guard the wagon. Veronica approached the spear and saw a smear of green slime along with a severed arm covered in a brown sleeve was lying on the ground. The spearhead was a cluster of pointed knifes each one shining and looking like it could cut from a distance. Boone crouched down and with two fingers scooped up some of the green slime and rubbed it between his fingers and thumb.

"It feels like blood."

"Well," Veronica huffed, "Lets' just take the spear and tell the Courier later he seemed to know what is going on."

The group agreed and started back to the wagon when six figures covered in full brown body suit and a gas mask with green glowing eyes. Each one held a spear, some poised to throw and others to lunge and stab. One of the ghostly creatures lunged at Cass with an alarming speed a knife spear clutched in its hand, she quickly raised and fired her shotgun and with a sloppy hit made the person spin around mid air and land on its back. It jumped back to its feet and hopped/walked back to the others like it the green slime already repairing the ragged holes in its suit.

"How the hell did that just shrug off a 12 gauge round?" Cass muttered unsure, "I have seen People in power armor go down from a hit like that."

"Let's see just what they can take," Raul said before pulling out a .44 magnum and firing twice into the chests of one of the ghosts. The creatures reacted badly twitching erratically and as one they started lumbering in to the fight. Boone had his rifle up and fired a round into the head of one of the creatures the .308 round hitting the beast in the head and causing a neat hole to appear in the creature as the round passed all the way through.

"Holy shit," Cass gasped as the green slime once again seeped into the hole and repaired the damage to the creature.

"Well, we're dead," Gannon stated his emotionless tone showing that he had thought of what they could do and finding more options.

The group huddled close wondering what would happen to them as the eerie noises of the area were broken by the loud chattering of machinegun fire one of the beast being ripped limb from limb from the hail of bullets. As one the creature tried to look for the source of the sound and lose another of their group when the chattering came again and blew off the head and right arm of the creature. Out of the red cloud a short distance away the Courier came running and fired the Automatic-Rifle In one hand catching one of the beasts in the chest with a five round burst knocking it to the ground, quick as a Deathclaw the Courier jumped on top of the Ghost and brutally hacked its head from the body along with both the arms, "Veronica punch off something, Boone take a piece off one with your machete, and for god's sake Cass, Aim for the head!" The Courier screamed before dodging another spear and decapitating the wielder with one stroke of the Broad weapon.

The Companions followed the Courier's orders and in a matter of seconds the ghost people were dead lying on the ground in various states of dismemberment, Veronicas was missing a leg, arm, and its head, Boones just had lost in forearm the creature having enough function to thrash around for a few seconds before collapsing, and Cass's was missing its head and a sizable chunk of its neck.

"I may not talk as much as I used to but for fucks sake when I do listen!" The Courier practically yelled, "These ghost people are the biggest threat here so don't go wandering off!" The Courier stomped off after this, with a few shocked companions to his back.

"He has never raised his voice before at any of us," Veronica muttered feeling ashamed, "but we didn't know what was out here, so we couldn't have known, Right?"

"It's okay, the Boss just seems to have a lot on his mind, let him go through with his thoughts, then judge his actions," Raul said as they walked beck, "Besides he seems to know this area better trust him, he hasn't lead us wrong yet."

-In the capital wasteland—

Kelly Carefully attached the stolen Stealth-Boy to her arm Vanishing with a faint hiss as the light bent around her, she sighed wondering how long it was gonna take her to get used to walking without being able to see her own feet. She snuck past the half observant guards, some of her old squad mates Linda and John, who seemed more interested in each other than the area they needed to be watching.

'This is too easy' she thought as she slipped out the front gate and made a run for it. She had a serious disagreement with Elder Lyons a few days before about what the Brotherhood stood for, she had read the Codex, everyone had, but she seemed to be the only person at the Citadel who noticed that, "Help a bunch of starving savages" was not anywhere in the old musty thing. That night she had snuck out for the first time, trying to think about what to do to try to get the brotherhood back on track, after all she was a knight in the Brotherhood she had some say in what went on. After a while she had realized why she was the only person in the Citadel who seemed to care. All the others had joined the outcasts, and now so was she.

She crept silently down the slope and made a break for it, running _through_ a raider nest in the nearest bridge startling the guard and those sleeping, and felt a few low caliber rounds Ping off her armor. It was a short trip to the area she needed to be, where outcast patrols came once a week, as reliable as a clock. She just had to stay hidden tonight and she was home free. She picked a well defendable building and shut then barricaded the door and cleaned her sniper rifle before she slept, it had all gone perfectly.

**Well that's chapter three, hope you enjoy. Next chapter will get back to all the characters and see what happens to Kelly one of my OCs. Please review good or bad I want to know**


	4. Chapter 4

The Courier had to hand it to the Enclave, they had an impressive defense. He was staring at a forty foot high wall regularly studded with towers garrisoned with two mark VI turrets and ten Enclave troops a piece. The main gate itself had eight turrets, a couple sentry bots, and a dozen Tesla armored troops standing watch over it. Not much would get by the only remaining Enclave stronghold. The troops were intently watching the fog waiting for anything to come out and break the monotony of the day for them. The Courier felt his mouth twitch in what is the closest thing he came to a smile that day, turned on his sneak sight to give his helmet the glowing red eyes that helped intimidate those who threatened him as well as allowing him to see through the fog, and calmly walked toward the Enclave troops Anti-material rifle slung on his back and ballistic fist on his arm.

The moment the Courier came out of the fog he heard the clatter of twelve plasma rifles smacking into power armor as the Enclave troops aimed at him, no doubt to kill.

"Identify yourself," came the reply from the Leader of the Enclave squad.

The Courier slowly reached into his bag and pulled out a tube with a document inside. He held the tube in an out-stretched hand allowing the Enclave to open it and pull out a sheet of paper. The paper was a treaty asking for the Enclave, Brotherhood of Steel, and the NCR to meet on the table of peace and simply stop fighting. The other part of the treaty stated that if they refused they would face "prompt and udder destruction."

As the commander of the Enclave squad read it a sense of relief emanated from him. The NCR was the single biggest threat to the remains of the Enclave, and any chance to change that would be welcomed. They had lost to much fighting the brotherhood and the Lone wanderer to engage an actual trained military force; they no longer had the manpower or resources to do so.

"Sir we will need to contact our superiors about this," the sergeant said with an added formal tone to his voice, "who shall we tell them is coming?"

"Tell them it's the Courier. They will understand."

"Understood…..Sir!" The sergeant added with a mild delay, after all he had never referred to anyone outside of the Enclave as "Sir."

"Is there anything else you need?" Asked the Enclave sergeant, and after a moment adding, "Sir!"

"Just let my wagon in."

The enclave troops looked at each other at this odd request, "Alright Sir" was the only response the Courier got before walking toward the gate that started to swing outwards as he approached it.

In the Capital Wasteland

There was a sense of alarm was racing through the Citadel as three figures walked slowly towards the front gate. The two men and a supermutant that were slowly and carefully walking through the rubble strewn path represented all that had tried to destroy the Brotherhood.

A supermutant wielding a sword/gun combination,

A Man with a stoic demeanor and a red beret, New California Republic Ranger armor, a scoped hunting rifle on his back, and a Machete on his hip,

And the most terrifying a person with Mark II advanced Enclave power armor, Plasma defender on his hip, an advanced Plasma rifle slung on his back, and oddly a white tube, contrasting greatly with the insectoid black and yellow armor.

The Lone wanderer was at the battlements wearing his winterized T-51b power armor, the perforator in his hands following the head of the Enclave trooper.

Sarah Lyons was standing next to him hand raised ready to give the order for Dusk and Cloven to fire.

"What are we waiting for!" exclaimed a nervous knight, "let's take them out before they can harm anyone!"

Jason though for a moment, something felt off about this encounter to him, "Let them in. Dusk, Colvin, Gallows if they try anything kill them."

After he said this Sarah yelled, "Open the gate and tell the guards to stand down!"

Almost immediately the gate began to rise grinding and pulling its way out of the hole in the pentagon revealing the three figures standing outside with their eyes fixed at the guards, the NCR ranger analyzing them as if to find the quickest way to take them all out.

Jason walked toward them his T-51b almost shining compared to the older T-45d models the brotherhood knights wore. He raised his left hand, the one that was **not** holding the perforator, and gestured for them to come in.

"Greeted by a Paladin, if it wasn't for all the guns pointed at us I would almost feel welcome," Arcade muttered to Boone.

"Star-Paladin," Jason corrected. He wanted to let them know who they were dealing with.

"oh, we have something for you then," Gannon reached for the tube on his back and stopped as twenty laser and plasma rifles were leveled at his head, "Okay then, it's in the tube, just take it out," he muttered raising his hands into the air.

Jason nodded his head towards one of the knights and the man quickly ran forward taking the tube slowly off the Enclave armor and opened it unrolling the treaty inside.

"What is it," Jason asked as the man stared at the paper.

"No idea sir, I… I can't read," The man admitted sheepishly before handing the paper to the Lone wanderer.

Jason glanced at the man's armor and took note of his wasteland origin and made a mental note to add reading and writing to the training regimen as well as have all wasteland recruits take a few mandatory classes. Jason looked through the paper getting a very bad feeling about its implications that only worsened as he read through the paper.

He held the paper out, "Take this to Elder Lyons as fast as you can."

"What was it," Sarah asked curious as to what an enclave trooper would have on him that would give the Lone wanderer pause.

"A peace accord," Jason said quietly, "One not only for the Enclave but for a New California Republic."

"No!" Sarah practically shouted at him, drawing the eyes of a few of the less attentive knights

"What, why, this is a chance for peace," Jason said talking in a slightly hushed voice to avoid attracting further attention to the conversation, "besides we don't have a conflict with this New California Republic."

"The NCR almost wiped out the brotherhood; because of them we haven't had any contact from the west coast divisions." Sarah quickly, and this time quietly, explained.

Jason sighed, "I'll take it up with the elder."

Jason grumbled before turning and running towards the Elder's chambers.

Sarah turned to the Two captives, "Your fate is up the Elder now," she turned and walked away while doing so she raised her arm in the air, hand open, then closed her hand quickly. There were two resonating booms as Dusk and Cloven fired. There was only one thing they could have been shooting at.

"NO!" Arcade yelled and lunged forward a few feet before a Brotherhood knight smashed him in the back of his head with a plasma rifle, knocking him unconscious to the ground.

Boone looked at his feet and sighed as he was pushed to his knees before having his weapons torn away from him.

'Another friend lost,' he thought.

Back with the Courier

The Courier was waiting outside of the office of an Enclave general. Apparently they had a whole office for talking about peace treaties. Standing and waiting had never been the Couriers strong point; he was agitated walking back and forth thinking of ways to eliminate the guards and bust out kept his mind occupied. The General's secretary, a petite, shy, brown haired girl, walked out of the General's office, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience but the General does not have an opening today or tomorrow, however this Friday there is a three hour long free spot from one-o- clock to four if that is okay with you."

She pronounced her words quickly yet carefully saying what she needed to fast and in a way that allowed everyone to understand what she was saying with perfect clarity.

The Courier sighed before turning to face her, "I know how politicians work I could smash my way in there and place a gun against his head and he still would make me wait till Friday," The Courier muttered his face hidden behind his helmet, "Tell him I'll be there. Now where's the nearest entertainment."

The secretary released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before giving her most disarming smile and saying, "There is a bar three streets down if you take a left out the front door, and a club for the more 'combat focused' individuals to watch a fight or two."

Cass hollered to the Courier and Veronica, "I'll be getting shitfaced, see y'all back at the hotel tonight!" Before shoving open the door and sliding down the banister to the sidewalk.

"A fight club, can you by chance fight in the club?" Veronica asked the secretary a smug sounding voice being filtered through her armors helmet.

"You can but it is not wise for patrons to engage in the 'competitions' without adequate hand- to-hand training."

Veronica smiled at the Courier, "I think that we are in for a fun night."

At the Club

The Courier watched with mild interest as the two overly muscular men in the octagon shaped ring struggled with each other on the ground trying to choke each other out with various holds and grips. Veronica was with a few other patrons smacking on the chain link fence separating the wrestlers from the crowd egging them on. From what the Courier had gathered there were two types of fights. normal, two people generally men trying to knock the other out with various holds and bars, and armored, were there were no hits that were forbidden and you could, of course, wear armor.

The Courier turned his attention back to the ring, and noticed one of the men was smacking his hand against the floor, just like that the fight ended and the tapper stood up before shaking hands with his opponent and walking out of the ring. An announcer called for combatants for an armored fight and two men walked up, one was a kid wearing some reinforced leather armor, and the other was an Enclave solider in his normal power armor. They walked in the center of the ring shook hands then the match began.

And ended in about five seconds, the kid threw a punch that the Soldier caught before twisting the kids arm bringing him to his knees and, with his left hand, smashing the kid in the face, knocking him out cold. After the poor boy was dragged out of the arena the Announcer called for a challenger making a dramatic show of looking around before pointing at Veronica saying, "How about you Sir, you would make a fair opponent!"

Veronica accepted with a nod and walked into the arena and up to the Soldier hand outstretched. The man took her hand and shook it his eye pieces aimed at hers. They both took three steps back before beginning to circle each other. The solider made the first move, a swift underhand cut that was easily deflected by Veronica. She retaliated with a feint towards the face followed by sweeping him off his legs with her feet.

She knelled on his chest, the crowd dead silent as she took down the power armored troop in a single hit.

"Another round?" she asked him.

"I'm good," the man said trying to get her off his chest.

Veronica hopped off and walked out of the ring giving the dumbstruck referee a pat on the back as she past him.

The announcer called out, "Can anyone even attempt to match such a display of strength and cunning? No, well then are you all too scared to attempt?" The enclave soldiers shuffled around a bit nervously wanting to prove their toughness without trying to trump Veronica.

"Practice a little," Veronica muttered to the Courier as she walked by.

In response the Courier stood up and walked to the cage, gently rapping his knuckles against the fence.

"A challenger!" The announcer yelled, his eyes flickering over the Courier, "And a brave one at that, who shall take on this shrouded opponent.

"Make it four." The Courier's quiet and deep voice was twisted by the Riot helmet creating a much more threatening voice come out of him.

"A brave and confident competitor, he has challenged for four people to meet him in single combat!" The Courier was starting to get annoyed by the announcer, and briefly debated smashing his head in, before turning to watch the crowd.

Four power armor clad Enclave came up to the other side of the octagon and stomped in.

'Recruits, this won't even be fair,' The Courier though as he adjusted his fighting stance, 'though after that fistfight with a Deathclaw I doubt anyone would count as fair.'

The Four charged him the moment the fight began, looking at their friends more than their target to make sure they weren't charging in alone.

The Courier shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and raised his hands in front of him, index and middle finger raised with the other two slightly curled.

The moment the first poor sap, the fastest one, got within the Courier's reach it was over for him.

The Courier slid to the side of the sloppily thrown punch by the rookie before quickly wrapping his hands around the Enclaves helmet, and with a jerk, pulling the man into the way of his friend's fist, a loud _Crack!_ Echoing in the now silent room as the power-armored fist smashed into the poor kid's helmet.

The Enclave hit the ground like a hunk of dead meat, unconscious before he hit the floor, blood leaking out of his helmet from his broken nose. The collision had buckled the helmet in almost three inches, crushing the boy's nose in the steel.

The other three saw their friend on the ground with blood pooling on the ground below him and two of them charged. The third, the one who had hit the boy, was on the ground pulling off the dented helmet and calling out through the armor, "Tim? Tim? Common, wake up, get off the floor," trying to get one sign of life out of the boy.

The other two's assault only lasted a few seconds longer that the first boy's had, though they were much more careful when attacking.

The circled around the Courier, one in front one in the back, able to strike at the Courier without worry of a repeat of what happened to Tim.

The two lunged forward, the one in front aiming for a strike to the chest, the one behind him an overhead strike.

The Courier waited two seconds for them to get in range then jumped to the side and turned, grabbing their heads and smashing them together. There was a _Clang_ as the steel helmets connected and an even larger _thud_ as the two fell to the ground clutching their heads.

The Remaining Enclave was stood over the bloody one, arms raised in defense and visibly shaking.

"Pick your fights better in the future," the Courier said picking the two off the ground and throwing them next to the remaining one, "And he may need this." The Courier produced a Stim-Pac from one of his many coat pockets and tossed it to the Enclave, and make sure your boyfriend's not going to charge into an enemy so sloppily next time, if this were a real fight you all would be dead."

The girl injected the Stim into the boy's nose putting it back into place with a crunch as the medicine did its work.

"In a real fight we would have had guns!" the girl retorted trying to keep some sense of bravada, "We would have had the advantage then!"

The Courier chuckled, a cold creepy sound only made worse by his helmet, "Cute, you think the outcome would be different then. I guess you're partially right, you would be in pieces instead of concussed."

With that the Courier turned and walked out of the octagon, and out of the bar, pausing to put a few caps on the table he had been using to pay for Veronica's drinks.

**There we go another chapter, I know this one took a while but I think the wait was justified, I'll be updating more often after this. **

**Stay awesome!**


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